Very, Very, OT- But need a variety ofopinions on something not WL related

Wait... you mean your first name isn't Onward? *kidding...* (Sorry am a little silly today!)

No, it's "Downward"!  Heh.  If anyone's interested in connecting on Pinterest, please do PM me. I have no problem with any of you knowing my last name, but I'm just paranoid about google searches connecting my full name directly with my posts here, since I share personal stuff here.  I'll probably get over it eventually. :)

I have a very dear friend who used to post her oil paintings on pinterest until she noticed some of her designs popping up in a local coffee shop.  When she researched the artist, sure enough this woman was all over her pinterest board.  My friend had a talk with this person who basically said tough nougats, sue me.  So she took all her stuff off pinterest.  

If you're producing copies of pinterest stuff I would say no.  If you're using tutorials and using your own creativity to make it unrecognizable and your own, go for it!  

My spouse is a very good seamstress.  She used to make us all flannel PJs for Christmas.  We were a pretty cute crew in our matching PJs!  I always though it would make a great business but we don't have the time.  Enjoy your craftiness! 

Wow!  That is terrible for your friend.  I think it is very wrong (if not on a legal level, then on an ethical level), to make exact copies of someone's original artwork.  Why would this person take any enjoyment in doing this? I hope she sues this lady.  Can she do that? 

I am not sure I have time to do this sort of thing either, but I figured if I plugged away and made a bit of "stock", I could see how it sells and then think about devoting more time to it.  Crafting is a good way to distract myself in the evenings.  If my hands are busy sewing, then they are not busy stuffing food in my mouth. HA!

She could sue her but she's not likely to, she's too kind a person (I on the other hand would have dragged her arse into court so quick).  Another friend of mine sells her jewelry on etsy, and does quite well at it.  Just another outlet for your sales.  

Wow Ian!  1 lb to go !  Woo Hoo!

I agree with you about it being unethical to make prints of people's paintings without permission.  That's really problematic!  Especially if she's doing it without giving the artist credit for it.  And especially since she's using it for a commercial purpose.

I think there's a difference between making prints of someone's artwork, and creating your own crafts based on a pattern or a model of someone else's work. 

Richard Stallman is an interesting activist around copyright - he's very much against almost all copyright, but even he thinks that for works of art, exact copies could perhaps be SHARED with others, but not for commercial purposes for at least 10 years after the creation of the work, so that the artist can reap the benefit of their creation.  So, for instance, if I thought your friend's artwork was beautiful and I wanted to print out a copy of her painting and hang it on my fridge, I could do that.  Or I could share a picture of it on my blog or repin it on Pinterest and say, "Check this out, it's gorgeous!"  But I couldn't sell it, nor use it in my commercial establishment.  Here's an excerpt from one of his speeches on that exact subject.  Warning: he's pretty radical on copyright!

http://esyr.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman,_Copyright_vs_Communit y_in_the_Age_of_Computer_Networks#Artistic_and_entertainment _works

However, when it comes to "utilitarian" things like recipes and patterns and such that make items we can USE (as opposed to artwork, which is aesthetic) we should be (and generally are) free to make what we want using those recipes and patterns, and we should also be able to sell the fruits of our labours.

Thanks, everyone for the advice.  My gut feeling was that, if it were a tutorial, then there should be no problem.  Even if it were legal, I would feel bad about taking a picture of someone's creation, lets say from Etsy, and replicating it verbatim.  I think I'd feel guilty and it would likely take away the enjoyment of creating something.  I will however use the instructions to make things that are mine.  For example, I was looking at some ideas of t-shirt weaving.  I think there are many ways that I could take the concept and apply a slew of ways that would make it look original. 

I agree with you there!  I wouldn't feel right posting it as if it was my own creation right out of my own head. 

In fact, I made a birthday card for someone a few weeks that was an exact replica of one I found on Pinterest because I loved the idea, except that I had different colours of paper.  Even though I made it, I haven't posted it in my original card board.  But if I do decide to do so, I will post a link to the pin of the "inspiration card".  Even though I don't have to legally, I think it's bad karma not to give credit where credit is due!